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Titanic mini-series to commence production this spring for Global

Global, along with ABC, ITV Studios and Lookout Point present Titanic, an epic four-part (4x1hr) miniseries set to premiere in simulcast on Global and ABC.

The story that continues to generate interest globally is brought back to life with a fresh take from an award-winning team.

The television debut of the Titanic in Spring 2012 will aptly commemorate the 100th anniversary of the tragic event. Filming begins this spring on location in Budapest, Hungary.

“Despite its legendary fate, on the whole, the Titanic remains a mystery to most, which explains the public’s never ending fascination,” said Barbara Williams, SVP, Content, Shaw Media. “From the vision of one of the industry’s finest writers, we’re able to delve a little deeper into the grey areas by way of the characters and their unique perspectives. This is an amazing collaboration with our Canadian producers and the international broadcasters, and a befitting tribute to this moment in history.”

Quinn Taylor of ABC Network added, “The tragic tale of the Titanic has retained a powerful hold on people around the world for almost 100 years, and this new miniseries will offer a compelling take on this epic, tragic story. We look forward to bringing this remarkable series to our viewers.”

From Oscar® winner, Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) along with producer Nigel Stafford Clark, BAFTA® winner for the Bleak House, Titanic will be an extraordinary new re-telling of the voyage on its centenarian anniversary from the points of view of several protagonists including a steerage passenger, a waiter, an engineer and a middle class financier. During the course of the first three episodes, Fellowes’ inspired scripts cleverly interweave multi-arc action, mystery and romantic plot lines, featuring both fictional and historical characters, before coming together in an explosive fourth and final hour.

Produced in association with ITV Studios and Shaw Media who are partnered with Deep Indigo Productions and Lookout Point in the UK, Sienna Films Inc in Canada and Hungary based Mid Atlantic Films to produce the miniseries. Titanic is written by Julian Fellowes, the Oscar winning screenwriter of ITV1’s hit costume drama Downton Abbey as well as Gosford Park and The Young Victoria and produced by the multi-award winning Nigel Stafford-Clark (Bleak House, Warriors, The Way We Live Now) and Chris Thompson (Love Actually, No 1 Ladies Detective Agency). The drama is executive produced by Lookout Point’s Simon Vaughan (Ben Hur, Coco Chanel, The Hot Zone *working title*) together with ITV’s Kate Bartlett (Marchlands, Identity, Vera), Sienna Films’ Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny (Diamonds, The Hot Zone *working title*) and Mid Atlantic Films’ Howard Ellis and Adam Goodman (The Borgias, Pillars of The Earth) and David Collins of Samson Films, Ireland.

Executive Producer, Simon Vaughan of Lookout Point commented, “We are delighted to be underway with the production. To produce a drama of this scale required us to bring together more than ten pre sale partners. This is also the first time in many years that major UK, US and Canadian networks have joined forces on a major miniseries drama and we hope this will be the global broadcasting event of 2012.”